INNERSPEECH 2014-2018

NEURAL CORRELATES OF INNER SPEECH

AIMS

The INNERSPEECH project aims at providing a theoretical account of inner speech, the silent production of words in one’s mind, by examining the neural and physiological correlates of various forms of inner speech, including wilful inner speech (with one’s own or someone else’s voice, with 1st or 3rd person perspective) as well as less deliberate inner speech forms such as mind wandering or verbal rumination and by comparing objective and introspective data.

The following questions are explored :

“WHAT” – relates to the nature of inner speech and its relation with overt speech. Is inner speech abstract and amodal or concrete and multimodal (auditory, articulatory, manual) ? Is it a mental simulation of overt speech, requiring motor processes, or does it correspond to speech recall from memory traces (speech listening), requiring sensory processes ? Which cerebral networks are recruited during inner speech ? What are their dynamics ?

“HOW” – concerns the ways inner speech manifests itself. What are the differences, in terms of neural networks and cerebral dynamics, between wilful inner speech and verbal mind wandering ?

“WHO” – deals with agency in inner speech. How do we know that the inner voice we hear is self-generated ? Are our imaginary conversations simulations of overt conversations ? What are the cerebral mechanisms underlying the mental simulation of someone else’s voice (mental imitation, 1st person perspective) and the imagination of someone talking to us (3rd person perspective) ?

“WHAT PURPOSE” – is that of the role of inner speech in cognitive performance. Can we better explain why wilful inner speech is usually helpful ? And is mind wandering also beneficial or does it impair cognitive performance ? Can negative rumination or auditory verbal hallucination be controlled and reduced ?